The Offside Trap

The Offside Trap

The soccer stadium was about to explode. Time ticked away, each second drawing stifled gasps and yells from travelling supporters. All it required was a precise acute strike that would put the ball past the goalkeeper into the net. An assistant signaled two minutes of added time.

The home team held possession, tearing the defense of the visitors apart with enigmatic passes, dribbles that watered mouths of both spectators and commentators. In the spur of a moment, the visiting team, donning all sun-yellow jerseys, had a hand on the ball and sent a long range pass to their forgotten striker in the opposite’s half.

Thunderous shouts erupted. This was the chance the away team had prayed for, fought for, shouted for, trained for. Their sworn enemies would be put to the sword. The lone striker blazed by the last defender like he was The Flash and aimed for the dashing goalie. And then… The whistle went.

Not because time was over. But that the striker had been an inch offside. What? No one believed it. Not the striker. Not the fans. Not the visiting team. Not even the dashing goalie who had posed for blocking the shot. It would have graduated into a scandal but for a device that recorded the pass, and gave detailed explanation.

The striker had truly been offside. And the whole stadium knew not.

In the same manner, in this world that we are, it is as easy to receive the truth as it is to swallow the diluted truth. Half lies and half-truths fill our world – from devotionals to magazines, cutting across self-help books to messages by preachers, not excluding textbooks from acclaimed professors.

Most times, we consume half-truths at a larger cost than we do the truth. It gets better. We tend to think that the truth should be something that works well with us, a consensual agreement, or a statement that sparks positive reactions from our audience.

But really, does that work? No. We should be wary of any ideology, advice, instruction, or logic that is endorsed, approved by all. Not that we should seek rejected, infeasible ideas. We actually should double-check and cross check and reprove and be certain any sample we would follow is the truth. Not half-truth. Or 70-30.

I chose to discuss this because I’ve learnt from this. While the mistake I made isn’t enormous, I realized that anything I’d apply to my pursuit of goals, visions, or personal life should be the truth – and as a Christian, it should agree with my values.

Which is why values are so essential. They serve as a gauge, giving the red alert to those look-likes, act-likes, but are not.

Because in the end, we, and we alone, would bear the consequences of whatever principle we apply, whether good or bad.

So, develop and acquire values. Gauge the advices you receive. And be certain they don’t contradict. And that they stand with the truth.

It really is all that matters.

After-word: Have you received advice from anyone that later turned out not useful? Or is it an ideology that wore the skins of truth but had the effect of fake? Share your experience. Thank you for reading.